Xbox Live sets new user record with over two million playing at once

Despite banning about a million Xbox 360 owners from Live, Microsoft's online gaming service isn't lacking subscribers, not by far. Following the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the number of simultaneous players connected to the Xbox Live service set a new record, reaching an impressive two million active users.

A significant portion of that number are new owners of Modern Warfare 2, which has racked up 5 million copies across North America and the UK in its first 24 hours. While it's yet unclear how many of those copies belong to the Xbox 360, Microsoft has disclosed the number of people who were playing MW2 -- 995,462 -- representing almost half of the record-setting two million players.

Taking a small jab at Microsoft, one must wonder how much higher that record could have been if they hadn't just blocked a million consoles from the service, or perhaps it was an anticipated move given the expected blockbuster launch -- either way, it's an impressive figure.